487 She Wants To Follow Me Now

Quite surprisingly, Eldoria managed to keep up with my speed of eating the sweets where I always had something to stuff in my mouth right after finishing one.

I was expecting the sweets to start slowing down at some point but they just kept coming one after the other and they were all made to perfection!

Ahhhh~ Is this what heaven feels like?

Om nom nom nom~

I'm not sure how much I actually ate but when I was finally done, I realised that the sky was tinged with the orange hue of the sun setting. For the record, we came here at midday…

Just how long was I here?

Ah! What about Eldoria?! Doesn't this mean she was making sweets non stop the entire time?! Wouldn't she be utterly exhausted by this?!

I looked over the counter and… Eh? It's empty? Where did she go?

Lisa giggled, "Look under it~"

I heeded her words and stood up from my seat to peek behind the counter, finally spotting the patisserie chef sprawled on her back.

"Ahhhh… I was wrong… I was so wrong… That cuteness… The way she enjoyed those sweets… She is the true sweets lover… I am the inferior one… I am the pretender…"

She was muttering some really weird stuff but her lips were curled up in a satisfied smile while drool was leaking from the side of her lips… So I guess she's fine?

"What happened to her?" I asked my Infrid who was looking at me with a very smug look on her face.

"Ehehehe~ It's just the usual, no need to worry about it~"

"No, no, no… This definitely looks like something I should be worrying about… What happened?"

She traced a finger around the rim of her tea cup with a cheshire smile, "Mmm… I guess the simplest way to say it is that she is now convinced that you are a true lover of sweets, Aster~"

"Umm… And she became like that?"

She shrugged, "At first she was still sceptical, but after you ate your fifth plate of sweets she was just making more sweets just to see your… Oops, I should not say anymore than that."

"See what?"

Lisa moved her hand to entwine her fingers with mine, "Ehehehe~ That's the part you don't need to know~ You just need to know that she believes you truly love sweets now~"

I wanted to insist that she tell me what it was but Eldoria suddenly leapt to her feet at that moment. She even reached over the counter to grab my hand and pulled me towards her.

"Lady Aster!! Is your family hiring?! Won't you consider hiring me?! Actually, I don't even need a salary! Please let me be your personal patisserie chef from now on!! Please, please, please!!"

Eh?

Aruule suddenly appeared beside me, "El… Eldoria… What are you saying? What about our store?"

"Sell it, burn it, whatever! I don't care! I've realised my purpose in life now!! Only by being Lady Aster's personal patisserie chef can I ever be satisfied!! There is no meaning for me to stay here anymore!!"

The boss was clearly panicking at this point, "Wai… Wait a minute Eldoria! We… We made it this far all thanks to you, you know? Even if we were to sell it… Your recipes--"

"I don't care! Those are all worthless to me now!! If I am not able to see Lady Aster's face when she eats my sweets, everything else is worthless!!"

… What the heck is going on?!

"This… But we got so far… Are you really going to give up all that we have built for this?"

"Yes!!" She answered without hesitation, squeezing on my hand even tighter.

I looked at Lisa for help but the Infrid was simply looking at me with a contented smile on her face.

Why are you looking so smug?

I tried to calm the woman down, "Umm… Eldoria… Sorry but, could you slow down for a moment… What's going on?"

She leaned even closer to me while still grabbing my hand, "It's exactly what I said, Lady Aster! Won't you please take me as your personal chef?! I will make sweets for you everyday!! Just please… Allow me to watch you eat my sweets! I have no other request but that!!"

What even is that request?! What happened to you just now?!! And why are you so fixated on watching me eat sweets?!!

Aruule wiped the sweat off his brow, "Eldoria… Please be reasonable… Even… Even if I were to accept this, the outrage from our customers would be too immense… I… I'm afraid that if they found out why you quit, Lady Aster here might be harassed…"

She let go of my hand and stared straight at Aruule with a serious face, "Then let's fake my death."

…

Why are you going so far?!!

I raised my hand, "Umm… Eldoria? There's no need for you to do this… If you want me to eat your sweets, I can always just come back from time to time as a customer…"

Unexpectedly, she actually fell to her knees and started to sob into her hands, "Noooo! I can't!! I can't do it!! I… I must see Lady Aster eat my sweets from now on! Without you, I don't think I'll ever be able to make sweets I am proud to serve ever again!!"

… I don't even know what to say anymore… Seriously, what happened in the last few hours to make her turn into this mess?!

What do I look like when I'm eating sweets?!

I was once again about to ask what happened when the door to the shop was flung open.

All of us turned to see a whole bunch of people marching into the store.

Eh? Wait… Rita? Fia? Tracey? Eh?! They're all servants from our home! What are they doing here?!

Aruule blinked at the group of maids who had taken up positions to surround the store, "Ser… Servants from the Nilm Family? Wha… What are they doing here?"

Unfortunately for him, no one answered and the maids merely stood there imposingly after shutting the door.

Lisa looked amused at the situation and sipped her tea, her other hand reaching out to entwine with mine.

Without warning, a portal opened up in the middle of the store and Mary stepped through, right before Katsuki and Sebastian followed behind her.

Katsuki immediately came over to my side while the other two inspected the area with a critical eye.

Mary then brought up some kind of jewel which glowed for a moment, causing the windows all around the store to be covered by a layer of darkness and obscuring the view from the outside.

A moment after that, Mother stepped through the portal and I immediately noticed that she was not wearing her [Mask Of Impossible Identity].

Aruule was visibly shaking, "No… No way… Is that… The Matriarch of the Nilm Family? What… What did we do? We're going to die aren't we?"

Why is that his first thought? Is it because he thinks that the fact Mother was showing them her real face, it meant that they were not expected to live past today?"

Mother turned towards Aruule and gestured a finger at him, prompting Mary to bow at Mother before stepping towards him.

She then reached into her apron, causing Aruule to flinch before she pulled out what was unmistakably a coin purse.

All of us were looking at the Trasif maid as she dug through the coin purse to fish out a single platinum coin.

"The Nilm Family would like to buy over your chain, Sir Laruule. We will allow you to stay on as the managing director but you will need to swear oaths to be one of the vassals of the Nilm Family."

He shuddered, "At this point… Do I even have a choice? I've already seen your Matriarch's face… If I reject this offer, you'd just kill me and take it from me anyway…"

Mary's face remained impassive, "There's always a choice, Sir Laruule."

He turned to look at Eldoria who simply shrugged.

"I accept…" He sighed, holding out his palms to allow Mary to drop that single coin that was worth a hundred times more than the money I currently have into his hands.

Mary nodded, "We shall discuss the details of the arrangement at a more appropriate place. One of our people will contact you to make the arrangements."

"Understood… Miss Eldoria, you are free to pursue your own interests now."

The patisserie chef let out a soft cheer and started to clean up the kitchen and pack things up into a bag she pulled out of nowhere.

I see she's already operating on the assumption that I had already accepted her offer… Not that I see any problem with accepting it in the first place but just how desperate can you be?

Although I could tell that Aruule was still utterly confused why my family was here.

Only then did Mother move towards me and hug me from behind, "Ufufufu~ Are the sweets here to your liking my little one?"

…

Needless to say, Aruule and Eldoria were looking at me with completely flabbergasted expressions, almost like their eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

Despite all that, there was only one thing going through my mind…

Did Mother really buy an entire chain of patisserie stores just for me?

Money is scary…